02/06/2014

SANTANDER TODAY

SANTANDER IDEAS

SUSTAINABLE SANTANDER

SANTANDER N THE WORLD

WE ARE SANTANDER

L ead by E xample: M otivation is K ey

02/06/2014

Trevor Williamson and team.

Trevor Williamson was named Retail Network Branch Manager of the Year for 2013. We

recently spoke to him about the best practices that got him there.

When Williamson first came to the Bank nearly two years ago as a personal banking representative in Elysburg,

PA, he found himself in an interesting situation. Just two weeks after completing his training, his branch

manager at the time moved to another position, and he was left with only a teller, a branch operations

manager and no prior banking experience.

In spite of all that, the small team was able to cut the learning curve substantially in just a couple of months

and, in mid- January of 2013, he was promoted to branch manager of that office. On October 1, 2013, he was

promoted to branch manager II to take over the Paxton Square office in Harrisburg, PA, – a much larger and

busier area.

“Coming into this branch, the first thing I focused on was my team. Like my previous branch, this one had not

been performing well for various reasons. I told them that they were all going to hit their referral goals and that

we, as a team, were going to raise this branch from the ashes,” says Williamson.“Our success is attributed to

one thing, which is that my team is not afraid to fail, and when they do stumble and fall, they fall forward. They

are relentless in their efforts day in and day out. Because of my amazing team, we were able to take something

that was broken and not only fix it, but make it better than it ever had been.”

When it comes to best practices, Williamson pinpoints two categories: the first being branch leadership and

the second being branch sales tactics. “As a branch manager, I believe it’s so important to be able to motivate

and inspire my team. I do this by reinforcing that they don’t work under me, but rather we all work side by

side.”

He also cites teller engagement as a must. “Your tellers are your front line, they see everything. I have a

different approach to what I hold them accountable for. Rather than giving them a number of credit cards or

referrals to generate, I hold them accountable for activity. What I ask of my tellers is that every day they send

me screen shots of no less than 80% of all their transactions in a day. So if a teller does 100 transactions in a

day, he or she would send me 80 screen shots in a document via email. I then take those screen shots and

coach my tellers on them. I tell them what they may have missed or triggers they might see on a customer’s

holdings list that may lead us into some other product they may need. This enables them to be confident in

speaking to all customers.”

When asked what he loves most about working for the Bank, Williamson noted the opportunity for

professional growth. “I love Santander for many reasons, but I’d have to say the biggest reason is the room for

career advancement. The Bank is growing and expanding, and being a part of that has been phenomenal.”